The glass facade of Cooper Union’s $111 million academic building offers a remarkable view — of a back alley packed with vagrants. “I have seen drug deals, public urination, defecation, masturbation in broad daylight in the Taras Shevchenko alley,” a Cooper Union faculty member told The Post. “It’s a place where many homeless congregate to sleep — right in front of a church and between a high school and a college,” the faculty member added.

Mayor de Blasio is a big fan of presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders — because the Vermont senator is a proud “Democratic socialist.” [Snip] De Blasio was quick to correct CNN’s Carol Costello after she called Sanders a “socialist,” telling her the senator is a “Democratic socialist.” “I think there’s a lot to like in that title,” he gushed.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, late as usual, arrived in Rome Tuesday morning to pontificate at the Vatican about the dangers of climate change. Delayed by fog that forced his plane to land in Milan, de Blasio arrived 80 minutes after his allotted time to speak at the gathering of mayors invited by the Vatican. Once he was given time to speak, though, he waxed eloquent about “powerful corporate interests,” adding, “Is it not the definition of insanity to propagate corporate policies and consumer habits that hasten the destruction of the earth?”

The plan for a museum in the city that would focus on climate and climate change, with exhibits that could relate to health, social justice and rain-delayed baseball games, moved a step forward Monday, officials said. The state Board of Regents, meeting in Albany, approved a five-year provisional charter for the museum, Regents spokesman Tom Dunn said. The vote means “there is absolutely going to be a museum,” said Miranda Massie, executive director of the Climate Museum Launch Project. She said the museum is now “empowered to hold collections in trust for the public.” Supporters say it would be the...

New York City's mayor has had enough Trump, thank you.During a press conference on Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that while he's uncertain whether the city can break several existing contracts with the Republican presidential hopeful, one thing is clear: There will be no future deals between the Big Apple and Trump. "My impression is that unless there has been some breaking of a contract or something that gives us a legal opportunity to act, I'm not sure we have a specific course of action," de Blasio told reporters. "But we're certainly not looking to do any business with...

No wonder he doesn’t think there’s a problem. The police have been laboring to keep Mayor de Blasio in a bum-free bubble — clearing nuisance-causing vagrants from his view at Gracie Mansion and as he travels in the city. On Wednesday, two hours before de Blasio was due to walk through Washington Square Park, cops arrived en masse to clear out the quality-of-life-ruining bums who drink from paper bags, sprawl on benches and pee in public. “They had to clear all the homeless out before he got there,” for a Ramadan fast-breaking dinner at the NYU Islamic Center, said one...

Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (left) is moving forward with a controversial plan to decriminalize such offenses as urinating in public — part of an effort to rollback on criminal offenses used by police to stop and detain suspects under the “broken windows” approach of Police Commissioner Bill Bratton. Critics have charged that the murder rate and other crimes are already up under Mayor Bill de Blasio due to the tensions with police and new policies against stop and frisk maneuvers. Mark-Viverito appears to believe that criminalizing urination is only a pretext for police stops or a minor offense for the...

Bums across the city hailed Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday for relaxing enforcement against homeless panhandlers, saying it hasn’t been this good for them in years. “I want to thank de Blasio for taking it easy on us. It’s easier for me to get by. Because of him, nobody bothers me,” said Phil Zasel, 63, who was hanging out near Bellevue Hospital with several sacks of belongings. “It’s better out here now. It’s the best time to be homeless. The weather is nice. I feel like I’m in California. So I’d rather be out here until it gets cold.”

Cops are hunting the creep who raped and assaulted a 21-year-old woman in the Port Authority Bus Terminal parking garage, police said on Saturday. The brute raped and then beat the woman, lacerating her face and body in the parking garage on Eighth Ave. and W. 42nd St on Friday at 1 a.m., according to the police. The suspect was spotted on security cameras sauntering into the garage's sixth floor elevator and then examining his knuckles before he ambles out, the footage shows.

Here’s an up-close look at a quality-of-life offense the City Council wants to decriminalize. This urinating vagrant turned a busy stretch of Broadway into his own private bathroom yesterday – an offense that would result in a mere summons if Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and her pals get their way. Wrapped in rags and a Mets blanket the hobo wandered into traffic at around 10:30 a.m. and relieved himself as cabs, cars and buses whizzed by between West 83rd and 84th streets on the Upper West Side.

There’s a new homeless shelter in Alphabet City — Tompkins Square Park. The East Village green space has become an encampment for the surging number of city vagrants, with many sleeping through the day amid dog walkers and moms with strollers. “I really don’t enjoy the beauty of the park anymore because I’m too scared to walk through it,” said NYU student Christine Gal, 19, who lives nearby. “I would say it has doubled in the last six months.” Gal added that she has been verbally harassed by “aggressive” bums and now avoids the park at night. A parks worker...

If you’ve been out and about in Manhattan over the past six weeks and you have eyes and ears, you know something’s happening — something worrisome. The urban streetscape is ­degrading. Take a walk down Broadway on the Upper West Side from the 100s to the 70s, as I did Sunday, and you’ll see it everywhere. It seems every barren storefront with a rental sign in the window has ­become impromptu outdoor housing for a homeless person. There are many such storefronts — ironic signs of prosperity, not recession. Rents have risen so high that small businesses often can’t afford...

Officials say they’re eliminating cash bail for thousands of New Yorkers accused of misdemeanor and non-violent felonies in an effort to divert them from the Rikers Island jail complex. An $18 million plan to be unveiled Wednesday will allow judges to instead require that people accused of certain crimes be monitored while they wait for their trial. …

By Richard Pollock Israel News AgencyNew York — July 3, 2015 … Civil liberty advocates are jumping all over New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s order to “review” all of Donald Trump’s city contracts because of his recent comments on Mexican immigrants. “This is not the American Way,” observed Alan Dershowitz, Harvard’s most distinguished civil liberties law professor, about the chilling effect de Blasio’s action could have on freedom of speech. “De Blasio seems to put himself directly, squarely in conflict with the First Amendment,” he told TheDCNF in an interview. At his presidential campaign kickoff, Trump said immigrants...

City now looking at Trump’s golf deal in the Bronx as fallout continues from inflammatory comments against Mexicans. Hours after Macy’s abruptly ended its business relationship with Donald Trump, PIX11 News has learned that Trump’s golf course deal with the City of New York involving the much revered Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point is being examined in the fallout of Trump’s controversial remarks regarding Mexicans. Mayor Bill de Blasio telling PIX11 News the following in a statement, “We are reviewing Trump contracts with the City. Donald Trump’s remarks were disgusting and offensive, and this hateful language has no place...

Mayor de Blasio lit Gov. Cuomo up Tuesday with a double-barreled blast of political payback. In stunningly frank language, the mayor accused the governor of deliberately thwarting his Albany agenda out of political pique and revenge — and hurting New Yorkers in the process. Hours before leaving on a vacation out West, de Blasio called reporters into his office and spoke calmly in a calculated decision to take off the gloves and reveal the “frenemies” were really enemies.

Iâ€™m guessing this is the new face of equality. Or at least a redefinition of sanity. In any case, welcome to the Big Apple, employers! (From the NY Daily News) In front of emotional supporters, Mayor de Blasio signed legislation Monday that will prohibit employers from inquiring about a candidateâ€™s criminal record prior to a job offer.â€śToday I see hope for people like me,â€ť said Marilyn Scales, 52, of the Bronx, who said she never has had a full-time job because of her record for dealing heroin. As crazy as this may sound, thereâ€™s actually a bit more to...

Hate crimes have spiked in New York City in 2015, according to New York Police Department (NYPD) statistics released Sunday—particularly against Jews. Hate crimes overall rose 9%, with 127 reported crimes during the first week of June in 2015 compared to 116 at the same time in 2014, the New York Post reports. Of those, anti-Semitic attacks rose 27% during that period, with 56 over 44 last year. …

The New York Post has learned that NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is going to â€śrampâ€ť up the cityâ€™s war against smokingâ€¦at home.If you live in New York, here is where you city tax dollars are going: The administration is planning to select and pay four health-advocacy groups $9,000 apiece to pressure landlords and developers to prohibit smoking in their apartment complexes so neighboring tenants donÂ’t inhale secondhand smoke. And the result of this campaign is: â€¦smokers would be barred from lighting up in one of their last sanctuaries: their own living quarters. Smoking is already banned in public...

Mayor de Blasio is ramping up the city’s war against smoking — at home, The Post has learned. The administration is planning to select and pay four health-advocacy groups $9,000 apiece to pressure landlords and developers to prohibit smoking in their apartment complexes so neighboring tenants don’t inhale secondhand smoke. That means smokers would be barred from lighting up in one of their last sanctuaries: their own living quarters. Smoking is already banned in public places, including bars and restaurants, workplaces, sports venues and parks.

How do you fix a failing high school? Change the grades. Under pressure to boost student achievement, the state-designated “out of time” Automotive HS in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has resorted to rigging Regents exam scores. The failing scores of five students who took the Regents in January were switched to passing scores of 65 or higher on their transcripts, the city Department of Education has confirmed. One junior saw his scores upped to pass two exams required for graduation — Living Environment (biology) and algebra — even though he had failed both classes. The student insisted he deserved a break on...

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett brought down the house at a Hillary Clinton fundraiser at the Plaza Hotel on Wednesday night. But Democratic insiders were also buzzing over who wasn’t in the high-powered house — Bill de Blasio. SNIP Clinton gave an “informal speech.” But witnesses said the biggest moment of the night was a symbolic kiss-off by Clinton to de Blasio when Public Advocate Letitia James — who’s first in line of succession to the mayor — was given the “most coveted speaking spot of the evening,” introducing the singers. SNIP

The New York City Police Department unveiled a new policing strategy Thursday meant to keep crime low while also improving the at-times strained relationship between officers and the communities they serve. The program, dubbed “One City: Safe and Fair Everywhere,” is being launched after an 18-month department review by Police Commissioner William Bratton. He declared the plan will give New Yorkers “a more intimate” relationship with police officers by fixing cops in particular neighborhoods, allowing them to get to know local residents. Some officers will now patrol the same beat day after day, building a rapport with residents who would...

Four people were shot at a Harlem deli Wednesday afternoon, police said. The gunman opened fire inside the 20 Stars deli on East 132nd Street near Madison Avenue around 3:30 p.m., cops said. A 25-year-old man was shot in the head and a 17-year-old man was shot in the torso. The chaos then spilled outside, with the shooter letting off several more shots

A machete-wielding madman slashed a woman in Bryant park in what police believe was an unprovoked attack, early Tuesday. The victim was near West 42nd Street in the park when the homeless man whipped out the machete and slashed her in the arm at about 11:30 a.m., according police.

Mayor de Blasio declared Sunday that Donald Trump is no real New Yorker, even if the mogul has his name plastered on so many buildings in town. The mayor told reporters that The DonaldÂ’s politics were out of line with Â“the valuesÂ” of everyone else in the city. De Blasio Â— who is still refusing to endorse his former boss Hillary Rodham Clinton for president Â— took the shot at Trump during a Washington Heights press conference in which a reporter asked about the billionaire being the only New York City resident running for the White House. Â“I donÂ’t think...

In the hot days of summer, the progressive revolution that took over cities and even the national government is frenziedly devouring itself. The media is pounding away at Hillary Clinton, not because it cares about her foundation’s dirty deals or the contents of her email server, but because it doesn’t trust her ideological commitment. If the media were sure of that, both stories would have been treated like Benghazi; mocked, ridiculed, falsely fact checked and then buried in a haunted Indian graveyard under the New York Times building at midnight. Instead the media pined for Elizabeth Warren. When the Native...

Full title: De Blasio says if rent-regulated apartments law expires it would be 'end to New York City as we have known it' The “end to New York City as we have known it" could be upon us if Albany fails to act and renew rent laws governing 1 million rent-regulated units, Mayor de Blasio said on Friday. In an unusually apocalyptic conference call with 14,000 AARP members, de Blasio said the laws — which expire Monday — are the only things keeping landlords from jacking up rents to market rates, often double what tenants currently pay.

John Dunleavy, the chairman of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade, is shopping the parade broadcast rights to other local networks because NBC insisted on the inclusion of a gay marching group in this year’s event, multiple sources tell the Irish Voice. Also, speaking at a parade lunch in April, Dunleavy said gay groups would “have a problem” securing a slot in next year’s line of march. The local NBC affiliate, Channel 4, has aired the Fifth Avenue parade live for several years, but was prepared to end its coverage in 2015 if organizers failed to include a...

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was snubbed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio again. According to The New York Observer, de Blasio confirmed he would not attend Hillary Clinton’s Roosevelt Island campaign kickoff this Saturday. New York’s liberal mayor says he still needs Clinton to talk about the income inequality issue. “What I am waiting to hear about is the fight against income inequality, how we raise wages and benefits, how we create the kind of progressive taxation system we need,” de Blasio told reporters at a city event in the Bronx.

Right now, there are about 800 Muslim uniformed police officers out of about 35,000, according to the NYPD Muslim Officers Society. Of those, only about 20 are higher ranked officials. Lt. Adeel Rana, commanding officer of the community affairs immigration outreach unit, said there has been a slow increase over the past decade, but it has been rapidly changing in the past year and a half. "It's changing every day; we are getting more and more recruits," he said. "And as they see people of their own religion in uniform, their eyes brighten." There has been an effort to increase openness and...

Mayor de Blasio is playing hard-to-get with his former boss and presumptive 2016 Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. For the third time, de Blasio refused to endorse Clinton on national television, sidestepping questions about throwing his support behind the former New York senator. "As for the Democratic field, each of the candidates is beginning to address these issues," de Blasio said on CBS' "Face the Nation" about whether any of the declared Democratic presidential candidates had adequately addressed issues like income inequality and a higher minimum wage. "I'm waiting to hear a fuller vision from each, on how they'll actually tackle...

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said on Sunday that Americans would benefit from reformed national voting laws. “We have a democracy problem,” de Blasio told host John Dickerson on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Our elections are governed by state law and for a long time I’ve believed we need to make a fundamental series of reforms,” he said. “Let’s face it, a lot of the people in the political class have tried to discourage voter involvement and a lot of incumbents prefer a very small electorate,” he added. De Blasio said he disagrees with Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.)...

The screaming tabloid headlines harken a darker, scarier time in New York history. “Four more murders in one night,” the New York Post wrote under the grieving loved ones of a shooting victim. The front page of The Daily News blared “Subway Crime Soars.” In reality, the uptick in violence is small. But even the perception that New York is suffering any sort of backslide into the violence-plagued bad old days of the 1970s has empowered critics of Mayor Bill de Blasio. De Blasio has assured the public that overall crime is down and that measures are already being put...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz offered proposals to address income inequality, an issue that’s already a major one for the upcoming election. Warren called for an end to the so- called trickle down economic theories that seek fewer taxes and restrictions on wealthy individuals and institutions. “These advocates push for deregulation that hobbles the cops on Wall Street,” she said. “We have to work so that the balance is not tilted against workers and toward multinational corporations,” Warren said. Warren has declined entreaties from supporters who want her to...

Uber and Lyft are pushing back against a New York City effort to regulate app-based ride-hailing services. The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission says the new rules being debated Thursday are minor adjustments to existing regulations. […] The proposed rule changes would address fares, the availability of wheelchair-accessible cars and restrictions on picking up passengers at airports. …

VIDEO: De Blasio defends working on national issues away from NYC Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio defended his involvement in national issues with the progressive agenda to combat income equality amid criticism of spending too much time outside of the city. De Blasio also said he agrees “entirely” with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on trade. “I think it’s obvious the issues that we’re talking about here have a huge impact on the people of New York City and when you think about what’s happening in our city – 46 percent of the people of our city at...

Wary Of Police-Community Relations, City Council Says Idea Deserves Consideration.(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is behind a controversial proposal to grant amnesty to more than 1 million people with open warrants for low-level offenses. But some experts worry it could cause crime to skyrocket. First he called for reduced penalties for smoking marijuana. Now, Bratton wants to explore granting amnesty to 1.2 million city residents with open warrants for low-level offenses, people who run the risk of being arrested for failing to resolve tickets for drinking in public, disorderly conduct and the like, CBS2’s Marcia Kramer reported Monday. There is one...

I see a future of sky-high taxes and very tall ceilings. Of a chicken in every pot and a pot plant in every planter. Fat cats would be incarcerated en masse for the criminal possession of money. And thugs who shoot, maim and steal would be reclassified as victims of wage inequality, in need of high-paying jobs, welfare benefits, affordable housing, therapy, hugs or deep-tissue massages. Cops would replace their badges and aggressive blue uniforms with soothing earth-tone windbreakers and espadrilles, and trade in their guns for thick-skinned yellow fruit. Bananas donÂ’t kill people. People kill people. And with burger-flippers...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)A rogue group of subway vandals calling them the ‘Subway Conquestors’ is allegedly on a mission to attack the rail system. As CBS2’s Weijia Jiang reported, they can be seen in video footage sneaking into deserted stations at Canal and Bergen streets, and an underground construction zone at Ninth Avenue. Police sources believe they were responsible for an explosion in the Bronx, and have been linked to one at Brooklyn’s Nostrand Avenue station in April. In the Nostrand Avenue incident, police arrested Keyshawn Brown, 16, and accused him of placing a piece of metal on the tracks. “There are plenty...

He’s on the road again. As violent crime soars in the Big Apple, Mayor Bill de Blasio has far more pressing matters to deal with — touting his progressive agenda in two more out-of-state locales. Hizzoner will be heading off Tuesday for his 11th trip outside New York in the last 12 months to address national or international issues. After speaking in three Midwestern states last month on income inequality, de Blasio is headed to DC to unveil details of his progressive agenda.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s political vision—and his political travels—have increasingly reached far beyond the borders of New York City. […] It is commonplace for New York City mayors to become national figures, but some experts believe that de Blasio—not even 18 months into his first term—is risking being perceived as someone who has forgotten about his home. A poll last week showed that fewer than half of New Yorkers believe the city is moving in the right direction. “He’s entering a path that can be dangerous for big-city mayors,” said Kenneth Sherrill, a retired political science professor at Hunter College....

Everyone from Susan Sarandon to Van Jones is helping draft and push de Blasio’s new “Contract with America,” which will push for paid sick leave and free, universal pre-K.First New York City. Then America. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is heading to Washington, D.C. next week to present a progressive “Contract with America,” a 13-point agenda intended to push the Democratic Party leftward. According to a draft of the document provided to The Daily Beast by someone asked to join the effort, de Blasio will call for a number of measures for which he has already pushed in...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayor Bill de Blasio said New Yorkers don't appreciate his "very special" accomplishments since he took office in January 2014, and criticized the actions of his predecessors and even President Barack Obama, according to a Rolling Stone interview. De Blasio, who has fulfilled a campaign promise to establish universal pre-Kindergarten education and is pressing forward with other reform programs, was quoted as saying out-of-towners see his administration' more clearly than his own constituents.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, you have a life-and-death problem. “This guy de Blasio is a disaster,’’ Thomas Von Essen, the former New York City fire commissioner, told me. Von Essen presided over New York’s Bravest on Sept. 11, 2001 — the day terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 innocents, including 343 valiant souls under his command. “I already gave this city my husband. I’m not going to give it my son,’’ a woman who lost her firefighter husband on 9/11, and whose son followed in his dad’s footsteps by joining the Fire Department, told me. She asked to remain anonymous so as...

Mayor Bill de Blasio is feeling unappreciated. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, he suggests that many of his accomplishments are being overlooked because of the day-to-day news cycle. “A lot of people outside New York City understand what happened in the first year of New York City better than people in New York City,” de Blasio said. …

SNIP Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was glad the merger didn’t go through. “Comcast’s withdrawal of its bid to merge with Time Warner Cable is good for the American consumer and it shows that our regulatory and legal system work,” de Blasio said in a statement. “We need more competition to bring down prices and ensure a democratic internet for all. The merger would have further concentrated market power in the cable and broadband sectors and created even greater barriers to the City’s goals of universal, affordable high-speed Internet access.” One of the concerns consumer advocates and competitors had...

Serious question: what did Mark Halperin mean when he said that NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio "may be playing a more dangerous game than he realizes" by refusing so far to endorse Hillary? On today's With All Due Respect, Halperin prefaced his ominous observation by saying that there is "furor in Hillary Clinton's camp" over the matter. De Blasio's omission certainly is striking, considering that he was Hillary's campaign manager when she ran for Senate from New York. View the video here.